Luke
Oas hails from the Lone Star State. Texas is a big state and is known
for doing things in a big way. Luke's ZO6 was no exception to that
rule. The story behind Luke's project started in 1997 when his
father bought a new C5. Luke instantly fell in love with it. He
always wanted to ride in it and of course drive it, but that wasn't
happening since he was was eight years old. Luke didn't fully
understand his passion for Corvettes until he sat in a black 03 C5
Z06. After the visceral experience of the look and the
sound of the car Luke knew that a Corvette was in his future.

In
2011 after graduating from college Luke found a red 08 C6
Z06. The car was a bone stock one owner car and had about 9,000
miles on it. Luke could not leave well enough alone so he added a set of long tube headers but the
mod bug demanded more. Luke decided to replace the mighty LS7
sell it and start over with a brand new motor. The
project evolved in phases. Luke's goal was to build a
bad-ass track car that could rip around a road course and beat the best
posted times for a "Z" around the Nuremberg ring. Luke attended
several driving schools and soon found out that circuit driving
on a pro level was not realistic.

After
that particular vision faded Luke decided to build an ultra quick
street car. Lukes one condition was that the car remain naturally
aspirated. The goal was to make huge amounts of horsepower
horse the old school way. Luke also wanted to keep the addicting
sound of a
thumping idle big cube motor. Luke and his cohorts at
Dallas Performance started the very unique project. As in most
Hyper builds the original budget planning goes by the wayside very
early in the project. Luke and the Dallas Performance team
replaced virtually every stock part of the drive train.

The
block was replaced with an RHS based 427 LS. Luke then added an
all forged rotating assembly, and specially prepped All-Pro
heads. To accommodate Luke's road racing plans an ARE dry sump
and a full PFDAT suspension setup was installed. A
Tremec ZR1 trans was also installed as the shorter gears of the unit
would help on the track. Larger oil and trans coolers were added
as well as a large capacity Dewitts radiator.

Stopping power
for the beast was a priority, a trophy kit from Stop-Tech which included
a set of 15 inch rotor's was added. Luke says it's almost as fun mashing the
brakes as it is mashing the throttle. A set of Forgeline
GA1R wheels house the rubber. In an effort to bring the Z into
the sub 3000 pound category a host of carbon fiber parts were added. A
special rear diffuser and twin four inch pipes finish off the rear end.

The interior of the Z has a true race theme. Cipher
race seats and Corbeau harnesses keep the driver planted during hard
turns. A roll cage was added to up the safety factor.
The stock radio and speakers were removed and replaced with
"race" look cockpit switches for ignition and fuel. A small
diameter Sparco steering wheel increases road feel. Luke
got criticized for ripping the radio out and not being able to jam out
while cruising. Luke says that the symphony those eight
cylinders is better than anything the radio can blast out.

The
hood was replaced with a very neat ZR1 unit with a peek a boo
Lexan window. What spectators get to look at through the window is an
exotic Harrop intake unit. The Harrop "Hurricane" intake features old
school individual runners and a cool carbon fiber finish. The
intake looks like it was pirated from a Ferrari. In
an effort to send the power curve through the roof a nitrous system (or "Natrous" as the locals call it) was
added as icing on the cake.

The
finished product is loud and aggressive. The tag reflects how the
locals refer to laughing gas. Luke's toy is not an easy drive as Luke
puts it, "this ZO6 will plant your ass in the seat when the pedal hits
the metal". Thats just the way we like.